Public report · Category-level · Week of Jun 12, 2026
State of the Shopify app market
Upsell and cross-sell is drawing the most merchant attention this week, and Marketplaces leads on open opportunity - here's the full category picture.
A look at how the Shopify App Store is shifting at the category level which categories are heating, which are slipping, and where the open opportunities sit. Useful whether you sell on Shopify and want to know which tools are gaining ground, build apps and watch your space, or just track how the platform is evolving. Aggregate and category-level throughout; refreshed regularly (see freshness).
122 categories · 21,694 apps analyzed · 13,752 developers covered.
The Shopify App Store over time
Total live apps across the dated record from 2,510 (2018) to 21,694 (2026).
| Date | Total apps |
|---|---|
| 2018-12-26 | 2,510 |
| 2019-12-03 | 3,547 |
| 2020-08-30 | 4,750 |
| 2022-06-05 | 7,341 |
| 2024-11-28 | 11,951 |
| 2026-06-12 | 21,694 |
New launches vs. delistings between each point.
| Date | New | Delisted |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-12-03 | 1,242 | 205 |
| 2020-08-30 | 1,502 | 299 |
| 2022-06-05 | 3,889 | 1,298 |
| 2024-11-28 | 7,047 | 2,437 |
| 2026-06-12 | 11,894 | 2,151 |
Category rise & saturation
App counts over time for the 12 largest categories today steep curves are still expanding; flattening ones are saturating.
| Date | Analytics | Upsell and cross-sell | Shipping | Discounts | SEO | Chat | Inventory sync | Dropshipping | Delivery and pickup | Shipping rates | Cart customization | Workflow automation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-12-26 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2019-12-03 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2020-08-30 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2022-06-05 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2024-11-28 | 1,465 | 582 | 710 | 1,095 | 426 | 349 | 625 | 417 | 345 | 542 | 295 | 269 |
| 2026-06-12 | 1,225 | 933 | 879 | 878 | 835 | 774 | 569 | 559 | 504 | 470 | 466 | 449 |
This chart starts in 2024, later than the store-total chart above: today's category labels only became consistent from then on, so earlier points can't be attributed to a present-day category.
Pricing & rating drift
Share of apps by pricing model (free, freemium, paid), and the average rating across the Store.
| Date | Free | Freemium | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-12-26 | 0% | 100% | 0% |
| 2019-12-03 | 0% | 100% | 0% |
| 2020-08-30 | 0% | 100% | 0% |
| 2022-06-05 | 32% | 65% | 3% |
| 2024-11-28 | 37% | 59% | 3% |
| 2026-06-12 | 32% | 63% | 5% |
| Date | Avg rating |
|---|---|
| 2018-12-26 | 4.41 |
| 2019-12-03 | 4.41 |
| 2020-08-30 | 4.36 |
| 2022-06-05 | 4.41 |
| 2024-11-28 | 4.42 |
| 2026-06-12 | 4.72 |
Directional only. Before 2022 the source data did not distinguish free from freemium plans: all apps were classified as Freemium by default, so 2018-2020 rows show 0% Free / 100% Freemium / 0% Paid - a data-coverage artifact, not a measurement of the real split. From 2022 onward the pricing split reflects the actual listing presentation.
Top opportunities
Categories that score highest on our opportunity measure a blend of how crowded the space is, how much merchant frustration shows up, and how much demand it carries. A high score flags room to build (for app teams) or a category worth watching (for everyone else).
Top 5 opportunities gap intent
Categories where whitespace, merchant pain, and demand all line up.
Building an app: these are the underserved spaces. Selling on Shopify: these categories may lack a great tool for your workflow.
- MarketplacesPrime· 213 apps
- AdsPrime· 342 apps
- Email marketingBlazing· 364 apps
- SMS marketingHot· 145 apps
- Loyalty and rewardsHot· 359 apps
Top 5 opportunities beat intent
Categories where incumbents are weak and beatable.
Building an app: the leading tools here have low satisfaction - ripe for a better alternative. Merchant: worth checking if there's a newer option.
- MarketplacesPrime· 213 apps
- AdsPrime· 342 apps
- Store data importerHot· 365 apps
- Payment experienceHot· 76 apps
- Sourcing options - OtherHot· 83 apps
Top 5 opportunities validate intent
Categories with proven, durable merchant demand.
Building an app: steady demand means a predictable market. Merchant: these categories have well-established solutions.
- Loyalty and rewardsHot· 359 apps
- AdsPrime· 342 apps
- Email marketingBlazing· 364 apps
- Upsell and cross-sellStrong· 933 apps
- MarketplacesPrime· 213 apps
Categories heating
Aggregate review velocity in the last 30 days where merchant attention is growing fastest.
- Upsell and cross-sell+3,204 reviews
- Product bundles+2,521 reviews
- SEO+2,090 reviews
- Product reviews+1,923 reviews
- Dropshipping+1,654 reviews
- Marketplaces+1,592 reviews
- Email marketing+1,581 reviews
- Discounts+1,451 reviews
- Loyalty and rewards+1,409 reviews
- Product variants+1,299 reviews
Categories cooling
Categories where the count of declining apps grew most.
- Dropshipping46 apps slipping
- Upsell and cross-sell46 apps slipping
- Discounts33 apps slipping
- SEO31 apps slipping
- Page builder28 apps slipping
- Shipping28 apps slipping
- Cart customization23 apps slipping
- Pop-ups22 apps slipping
- Chat21 apps slipping
- Shipping rates20 apps slipping
This report is intentionally category-level. Apps Almanac is derived market intelligence; we don't republish per-app Shopify data on public surfaces. Per-app signals (scores, trajectories, components) are available inside the app for signed-in users.
Track these shifts as they move.
Editions refresh on a regular cadence. Open a free account to get the full per-category breakdowns, momentum tracking, and your own watchlist the report is the public tip of it.
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How these numbers are computed: methodology.